


Prisms

by Archangel_Beth



Category: Bleach, In Nomine
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-03
Updated: 2006-01-03
Packaged: 2020-10-03 20:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20458733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archangel_Beth/pseuds/Archangel_Beth
Summary: A Bleach-In Nomine crossover. A vignette set in the first "invasion" of Soul Society by Our Heros.Working from online resources for spelling and if I get anything wrong I'll claim it's 'cause it's an AU crossover.





	Prisms

_If you are reading this on an app with in-app purchases or subscriptions, know that this story is available at https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archangel_Beth , and Archive Of Our Own ("AO3") permits epub downloads; I like the Marvin app for iOS; small one-time fee, and lovely by-author sorting. If you have paid money for this story, you have been cheated._

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They wound up in one of the myriad store-rooms that filled this part of the strange city. Orihime wondered, vaguely, why there seemed to be so many unused buildings. Did the people here fight so much that no one wanted to live in a place that would be destroyed -- and presumably rebuilt, in identical drabness -- frequently? Had there used to be more people, and when they moved out, no one wanted to move in, and it just became a "place to put junk you'll want someday"?

Where did the people here, inside these walls, actually live?

Orihime hoped that it was someplace happier, with more color. Little gardens, maybe, with well-tended blooms. At least some bonsai on the windowsills.

Her hands shook and when she realized that the drops of water on them were tears, she wiped at her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ishida-san. I'm sorry, I couldn't..." Couldn't strike to kill. Couldn't send little Tsubaki into deadly combat, even though he was a part of herself with his own thoughts. Dear little figment, bound into her soul. Too much _her_ and too little his own, for her to be able to tell him to _cut_ and mean it.

Ishida patted her on the shoulder. "It's all right," he said. "I... don't expect it, of a Flower-child."

She heard the capital letter, and for a long moment, blinked and stared at the wall, trying to remember why that should be familiar. It had been so long...

"Not a... what is it, _Mel-cul-ane_? You know karate..."

"No," she whispered, as even the Japanese of a Choir woke old knowledge. "Not a..." She made herself speak the foreign, non-Japanese word. "Mercurian."

He nodded, and pushed his glasses up, and didn't ask.

She looked at him. "How... how do you know, Ishida-san? Are you...?"

"I'm a Quincy." He paused, and added, "Of the Sword, I suppose I should say."

Her lips formed a silent "oh." She almost asked why he hadn't been able to get back-up, but really, it would be the same reason as why she couldn't call down the thorn-souled Virtues herself. Shinigami and hollows were humans -- though the hollows were twisted, nigh-Fallen creatures. Heaven wouldn't interfere with them, beyond keeping demons from interfering. Orihime was skirting a dangerous edge, but her Role had become involved...

She let her head and heart make a decision. "I'm... not a full angel. Not quite hatched. I'm a helper. A..." Back into English. "_Reliever_." Back to Japanese. "With helpers of my own. Dream-helpers, but... part of me. I've been being as a human so _long_." So long, it seemed like dreaming, to walk in the Marches.

She wasn't sure that she liked remembering she wasn't as human as the humans she loved.

"Ah." Ishida pushed his glasses up on his nose again, and nodded. "I have heard a little. But Flowers?"

Orihime nodded. Flowers or Dreams, but she loved this world too much to never walk in it.

"Ah." He sat next to her, with something in his heart (she could tell that much), and she waited quietly until he found the words. "Someday... Someday, I think I might like to see your... soul-form. If that is... not offensive, Inoue-san."

So many mixed emotions, of not wanting to admit -- even to herself -- that she wasn't human. Of a sudden, tender compassion for a mortal who was trained to deal with the _ugliness_ of hollows. Orihime took a breath. "I can't here, because of how we came. For now, my... gigai is my soul-form. But when we get back to Earth..." She smiled at him and nodded. "Hai!"

Ishida smiled back, faintly. Then they simply sat together, resting, and listened to the city of souls.


End file.
